This is what a blog is for

It's to post that kind of nonsense that I really REALLY just WANT to share with everybody I know, but can't quite reconcile with my conscience putting it into their inboxes.
If I put it on my blog and they waste ten seconds of their life reading it, it's nobody's fault but their own.
So. Here we are:

US shopper charged $23 quadrillion for cigarettes

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/16/man-buys-cigarettes-23-quadrillion

A shopper in the US city of Manchester, New Hampshire, says he swiped his debit card at a petrol station to buy a packet of cigarettes – and was charged over 23 quadrillion dollars.

Josh Muszynski checked his account online a few hours after the purchase and saw the 17-digit number - a stunning $23,148,855,308,184,500.

He said he then spent two hours on the phone with Bank of America trying to sort out the string of numbers – and the 15 dollar overdraft fee.

The bank reportedly corrected the error the following day.

Embroidery!

I went by the sewing shop to get some Pfaff bobbins. They wanted $6 for four of them, which is highway robbery. The other kind are $2 for ten and it's the same plastic.
Ed and Dave were looking at the embroidery patterns, and I tried to explain about embroidery machines, how they have their own hoop. I asked the lady if there was a machine with a hoop on it, and she showed us one that had a piece of fabric on which she had embroidered "Love." She asked Dave what his name was and added that beneath, then took the square off and gave it to us. How delightful! It can be a quilt square. I said I had another boy at home, and she said to come in again sometime and she'd make another square.
She showed me stabilizer for $12 the roll, I didn't buy it. I took home the piece she had just ripped off; it was enough for a couple more uses.

I've had this pillowcase in the top drawer for a while now, not exactly getting done. I used the cool new sewing machine and green thread to finish the leaves. Yeah, I know, pretty simple. I just drew the design on there with a pen :-)



Then looked at Walmart, and found stabilizer for $1.50 a square yard! Glad I didn't buy it at the sewing store!

Know Your States

Just drag the states into the right position.

http://jimspages.com/States.htm

Gadwin Print Screen, another cool utility

Another freebie I wouldn't want to do without. I downloaded this to make my Spirograph Illustrator tutorial, because it has the option to capture the cursor. Now it autoloads with Windows and I wouldn't want to be without it. I use it constantly for saving a view of something that I otherwise wouldn't be able to (Ebay's annoying new popup pictures, for instance) or a snapshot of something I'm working on to send someone. It has the option of copying to the clipboard or to a file, very customizable.

http://www.gadwin.com/printscreen/

Wordpress!

I’ve had "learn Joomla" on my to do list for a while now. But I really think Wordpress is a better deal. It goes together so easily! A couple clicks and it's done, everything obvious, intuitive. Voila.
Not that Joomla might not be more suitable for the purpose… more powerful… more everything… and I can learn it if I need to! But can THEY? I read in an article (here):

"When I train clients on how to manage their websites It usually takes about 40 minutes with Wordpress, often a few hours with Joomla, though Joomla has more powerful features, every day tasks the client wants to learn take much longer to train.
"Unfortunately once a client has received training in Joomla they often need tips or hints at how to perform a task again a few weeks later, that scenario hasn’t come up once with Wordpress."

Now that is what matters to me! The people who want my help want it because they’re NOT the techie type. They just want to be able to update their own websites, not be dependent on me. That’s it, I’m sold. Wordpress it is.

Now goes on the to-do list "learn to customize Wordpress" and that’s a much smaller and funner-sounding assignment, honestly.

So with the sunshine today… I am a happy girl.

Links to other cool articles,

http://www.leveltendesign.com/podcast/drupal-vs-joomla-vs-wordpress-speak-easy-drupal-01

http://www.goodwebpractices.com/other/wordpress-vs-joomla-vs-drupal.html

Gütermann Nähseide

Gütermann Nähseide

Okay yes, that is showing off Colemak’s shortcuts for international characters :-)

I went to the fabric shop yesterday and no fabric or supplies hopped into my basket, but this did. A tin for $4, and not empty, but with spools of thread inside. Tin made in China, thread made of polyester, so my authenticity antennae were wavering, but I just couldn’t resist that picture.

Comes with four spools of sewing thread inside!

More not-exactly-cookies

Baking NOT cookies again.

I felt like trying molasses and sour cream this time, so I mixed up:

3 eggs
1/2 c butter
4 cups flour
1/2 c molasses
1/4 c sour cream (I'll put more next time)
2 tsp baking soda
2 bananas
(was going to put in raisins but ah plumb fergot)

See!